36 Hours In Paris

If there is one thing that you need to take away from this post, it’s that if you are going to Paris any time soon, you HAVE TO go to Benedict for breakfast. Trust me. You will thank me.

Back in my ‘Oh my, July!’ post I talked about how I was lucky enough to have been treated to a weekend in Paris by Rich as a kind of apology for booking us a football holiday to the euros earlier this year. Which his best mate ended up going on instead of me.

Sleep

We stayed in an Airbnb on Rue Des Rosiers (‘Street of the Rosebushes’) in the utterly charming Le Marais district. The location was superb and the flat was clean, but not very instagrammable. Much to editor Lauren’s despair. However check out the view from our room (see the last slider above). Stepping out onto the street we felt like true Parisians.

There was so much to do in Le Marais that we didn’t need to leave the area. Armed with recommendations from you lovely lot we spent pretty much the whole time meandering around the cobbled streets, discovering hidden courtyards and galleries, and shopping and eating to our hearts’ content…

Shop

You cannot go to one of the shopping capitals of the world and not indulge in some retail therapy. Or so I told Rich. The underground station where we got off the tube from the airport deposited us straight into the enormous Forum Des Halles shopping centre. How convenient. I was able to check out, for the first time, the likes of Le Petit Bateau and also Maisons du Monde where I found so many stylish (and affordable) bits for the home that I kicked myself for being hand luggage only on the flight back. I have since discovered, however, the Maisons du Monde website. Uh oh.

I also popped into BHV, a fab department store that was a bit like a cross between a Selfridges and a House of Fraser, where I re-ignited my love for Kookai and treated myself to this ditsy floral dress and this cute shirt.

Eat

Apparently Le Marais is renowned for its falafels so as soon as we dropped our bags, we followed reader Annie’s advice and ordered two falafel pitas from L’As du Falafel. Just delicious.

On the Saturday night we sipped on some ridiculously strong cocktails on the terrace of an old-school café, then stumbled across a tiny trendy Italian restaurant down one of the winding back streets for dinner. Then on to the Paris Plages, a temporary artificial beach along the river Seine. I’ve been wanting to visit this for years and I’ve got to admit, it was my one disappointment of the trip. Yes, there was sand and deck chairs, but it just did not feel anything like a beach! It was, however, another good spot for people watching and more cocktail consuming.

As I hinted above, the highlight of my weekend was Benedict, the location for brunch on the Sunday. As the name suggests, it’s a restaurant which specialises in Eggs Benedict. They had no less than seven variations of the classic hangover dish, from Italian-style to Nordic, and truffle to avocado, all of which came with sides (Rich had the truffle fries and I had the mac and cheese). Guilty pleasures, eat your heart out.

Do you love Paris as much as me? What’s your favourite thing to do in the City of Lights?

Post navigation

19 thoughts on “36 Hours In Paris”

Your IG comment made me laugh Lisa. We usually stay in the Ibis in Bastille – definitely not instagrammable, unless you like wood chip wallpaper. It’s on the edge of the Marais district and is usually exceptionally good value.

Oh gosh, we stayed in an Ibis when we went to the rugby world cup years back. It was most definitely NOT instagrammable but served it’s purpose. I now want to have a little trip away. I shall get nagging Edd immediately. This just all sound perfect. xxx

We went to Paris last December and my boyfriend popped the question there so I love it even more now! Has anyone seen any cute simple paris prints? or eiffel tower ornaments, I’ve been meaning to add a bit of paris to our home and cant find anything not tacky looking x

My youngest sister has just moved to Paris for a year, so I think a trip to visit her is most definitely on the cards! Sounds like you had a lovely time Lisa, will tell Bry about Benedict, she’s a big brunch fan (but then, who isn’t?!) x

Totes booking Benedict for Husband’s surprise birthday weekend in Paris!! Thanks for the recommendation Lisa! Did you book or do you think you need to?
I am not making a decision on hotels and need to just book one but there are so many options!!! x

My husband and I went to Paris last March. We stayed in a hotel near Bastille (La Marceau Bastille) which was really nice and affordable (it was a booking.com deal). For dinner we liked “East Mamma”. It is mostly Pizza and Pasta in a really nice atmosphere. It is always full and it is best to go there immediately when it opens. When we were there, there was a very long queue around the corner of the house. But it went really quickly and was worth the wait.

Sounds heavenly – we were there to see in the New Year and had the most incredible time. We stayed at the Meliá Paris La Défense – a little more modern, the rooms are huge and it has the most incredible Sky bar overlooking the whole of Paris. There is a Metro stop outside of the door too. I left my heart in Paris…hoping hubby will take me back to retrieve it in the not too distant future. xx